1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image transmission technology in which address information can be displayed, and in particular to technology for controlling the display of address information when transmission is performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent years have seen the widespread use of image transmission devices that can transmit various types of information via a network to a recipient by a transmission method that a user desires (E-mail, fax, FTP, Internet fax, etc.).
It is common in such image transmission devices for a recipient's address information (the recipient's name, fax number, E-mail address, etc.) to be displayed on a display when image data is transmitted. Since it is possible for a person who has no connection with the sender to see such address information, there is disclosed technology for preventing information leaks by controlling the display of address information.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-186919 discloses technology for restricting the time for which address information is displayed and masking parts of address information.
Such technology raises security such that important address information regarding a client etc. cannot be easily seen by others or leaked when transmitting image data.
However, since the display of a recipient's address information is controlled according to the intentions of the sender in the above conventional technology, the intentions of the recipient are not taken into account at all, and when image data is transmitted, information that the recipient does not want to be displayed may in fact be displayed, and such information may be leaked to others and used without authorization, which is disadvantageous to the recipient.
For example, in a case such as when image data is exchanged between employees at the same company, there is no particular need for the sender to restrict the display of the recipient's address information, and therefore the display of address information is often not restricted when performing transmission. However, there are cases such as when due to the recipient's circumstances the recipient is visiting an important client and wants to receive image data etc. at the client location, or is working at home and wants to receive image data etc. In such cases, even though the recipient would want the sender to restrict the display of address information for the sake of ensuring security and protecting private information, the sender would not be aware of the recipient's circumstances, and if the address information were displayed without any restrictions and fully disclosed, the address information could be leaked, which would be disadvantageous to the recipient.